POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: roy100 on September 27, 2010, 07:13:11 pm
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Tomorrow I will start a treatment with an acupuncturist.
She does not only have the acupuncture knowledge but has also the gift to sense what is not working with you and send signals to enable your body to do this or that, ( this is according to my brother, and the reason i will be seeing her), my brother has sent about 4 to 6 people to her with wonderful results. His nephew even decided to get a divorce after consulting with her.
She uses Chinese medicine and Chinese herbs, to treat the energy, and uses your birth date to tell you according to the Chinese calendar about your personality, and karma.
The main issue I want to deal with her for treatment is my depression , which I am recovering from, going down with the Antidepressant 1/4 of a pill every month.After each decrease I feel down and anxious. My PR Dr doesn't want me to get off the AD , as I have 30 % chance of relapse.
I attribute my depression as to been ill with Aids and its many opportunistic infections some of them in the brain, so I want to take as few medicines as possible, and getting of the AD is something I want to try.
This acupuncturist I am talking about , gives you your needles and charges them the fist session, there is no choice of disposable needles. What care should I have with them?, Soak them in alcohol all the time until next use?.
Also I wouldn't like to tell her I have Aids, but planning to tell her I had recently had Hepatitis, so she will be careful handling them. ( I don want to tell her because she has a lot of rich clientele , even priests, so, I wouldn want to tell her unless I have to. Also Aids is not the reason I will be seeing her.)
Anybody has input about acupuncture needles and how to take care of them ?
Also with Acupuncture treatment?
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I REALLY hope this works for you.
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Hi Roy
I see an acupuncturist regularly, mainly for my headache and other muscle pains. The Chinese school of acupuncture is based on the theory of chi, or energy, the yi and yan (negative and positive). As far as the theory goes one gets sick in essence because of yi-yan imbalance, and acupuncture is a way to adjust your chi to regain a state of balance. While it all sounds a bit mystical, mind told me that acupuncture is just a form of reflexology. In that sense IMHO acupuncture can help in treating depression because it can rather effectively help a patient to rest and relieve a lot of muscle tension.
So I am not sure if you can use it to replace or reduce other anti-depressant meds you're taking. You may also want to take note that some herbs can interact with meds - other anti-depressant and HAART. While I trust mind to pin me, I will not take any herbs that he has "prescribed" for me.
I am also a bit surprised that she charges you one set of needles to keep. I have done my researches myself some years ago and I did ask mind a while ago about needles - they do come in different sizes, but the "narrow" types are most commonly used. They are cheap so mind always uses disposable. There are types that are longer and thicker; they are more pricey are likely to be reused but they are only used in deep pressure points in body parts that have thicker muscle (like thighs and butts). They also need to be use very carefully and only very experienced acupuncturists use them. So I am not sure why yours cannot use those disposable ones.
If you must keep your own set, ideally you should keep them in a metal container that the needles can fit in. After each session, you can either soak the needles in 100% medical grade alcohol or heat them up for a few minutes in boiling water. Then dry them on a paper towel before putting them back in the container and store it in a dry place.
But of course I am sure your acupuncturist will be able to tell you the best way to clean and sterilize them.
Wish you the best. I do find having regular acupuncture sessions are good for my health - if nothing else they help me to sleep better, but again, I will not relay on acupuncture to replace any of my meds and do check what herbs she's prescribing before you take them because they may interact with your meds.
Shaun
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The acupuncturist I used to go to also used disposable ones. Rubbing alcohol is not enough. You should ask your acupuncturist for advice or contact the National Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Again, I'm a bit shocked disposable needles aren't being used.
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The acupuncturist I used to go to also used disposable ones. Rubbing alcohol is not enough. You should ask your acupuncturist for advice or contact the National Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Again, I'm a bit shocked disposable needles aren't being used.
Isopropyl alcohol is certainly enough to deactivate HIV. Soap and water is enough to deactivate HIV.
Other pathogens (HCV, Clostridium Tetani anyone?) are more robust, which is why disposable needles are preferrable.
MtD
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Yeah, Clostridium Tetani (tetanus) came to my mind as well when I heard. I was unclear whether these were to be YOUR needles or not. If not, I would be REALLY REALLY squeamish about using that practitioner.
An immune system compromised by HIV is nothing to mess around with, especially not when it can be easily avoided. If your practitioner gives or sells your own personal needles, then at least that would allow you to sterilize them properly.
Alcohol is a decent first step, but everything I read insists that boiling them for some time is the only way to get rid of other things. I just don't get why someone would take the chance.
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I went to the acupuncturist yesterday.
I started treatment , 3 days in a row, then once every three weeks, and then once a month.
I am to eat something every 3 hours, and eat a boiling egg with half lemon in the mornings , before breakfast as this would nourish the brain, I am to write everything my body feels , so I wont forget any details.
She told me she is not sure if acupuncture would help in my case ( depression ) and she will tell me after a few sessions. She says she has nothing against AD and if they are available to me to go ahead and use them. She told me according to the Chinese horoscope , I am a cock, and a horse, both are nervous animals ( one is a bird ) and it comes in my nature been nervous and anxious, and not to expect to change that, that I tend to be perfect and controlling in a world which is imperfect.
That I should use my ability to put order and control in those people I came to help in this world, yet I should accept an imperfect world full of chaos and love it.
She did use some Little burning flowers in like a clay very small and short sort of a pipe, to apply in some acupuncture points. And gave me some kind of massage.
I solved how to sterilize the needlees , as I remember I had an ozone sterilizer for baby stuff.
I put the needles there for 30 minutes in a closed containers and the ozone takes care of sterilizing the needless.
Thanks a lot for your output , I really appreciate it.
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... according to the Chinese horoscope , I am a cock, and a horse, ..
Hmmmm.. not sure if you can really relay on that.. ;)
Chinese zodiac is based on lunar calendar, and each year has its own animal in a 12 years cycle. So if you're a rooster, then you cannot be something else at the same time (because it's based on your year of birth), and the year of horse does not follow or precede the year of rooster. (FYI the one before rooster is monkey, and following rooster is dog, which is my zodiac).
And Chinese astrology is based on the principle of 5 elements - metal, wood, water, fire and earth (soil). This is somehow also linked to the more mystical philosophy that dictates that if one is born with certain elements, one could achieve better luck or even health by introducing elements to his/her life/living environment that one lacks under his/her sign to balance it out.
Just curious..
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I'm a Water Tiger. :)
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Ann is a wet pussy :)
I couldn't resist.
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I'm a Water Tiger. :)
Which is not the same as "big wet pussy." :o
I had acupuncture last week, and while it helped when I was on the table, it wore off as soon as I got up and started moving around. I think I need to give it a few more tries and maybe it'll take.
edited to say Damn Pete is quick on the draw!
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I'm fire and horse (subliminally add in "hung like a") :o
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Ann is a wet pussy :)
I couldn't resist.
Yes I am and no you can't. I'm irresistible.
I'm fire and horse (subliminally add in "hung like a") :o
...like a fire hose?
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...like a fire hose?
Comes complete with a set of muscular firemen and that long pole they slide down....
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The 2nd animal I gave you horse, comes with the time of day you were born, 11 AM in my case.
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roy....
my acupuncturist uses DISPOSABLE NEEDLES.
Why dont you ask your acupuncturist to use the disposable type.
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Hi Roy,
My acupuncturist uses disposable needles and has never recommended cessation of meds of any sort.
Further, she doesn't require knowledge of any med or regimen---she is able to assess and treat based on her abilities---not a report of my profile.
Em
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I would just also like to point out that an acupuncturist does not necessary mean a Chinese medical doctor, which knows how to "prescribe" herbs. Not sure if this is the case in some Western/South American countries, in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and most other Chinese speaking territories one needs to be qualified to practice Chinese medicine. Some top universities here and in China, e.g. have degree courses that are as tough and difficult to pass as Western medical schools. They really treat it seriously.
I personally would not take any herbs prescribed by my Chinese medical doctor/acupuncturist, simply because the risk of the herbs might interact with my HIV meds. I don't think there are any in Hong Kong but I do know a few in San Francisco that have been trained in both Western and Chinese medicine, and they have experiences with HIV. I would probably be less concern with those (though at the end it really depends on how much faith one want to put on Chinese medicine).
Being Chinese myself I grew up with lots of traditional Chinese herbal remedies for small problems like a common cold, stomachache, etc., but I have literally stopped using any after my diagnosis. I am less concern with acupuncture as long as the acupuncturist is qualified to practice because it's reflexology after all.
I would also be very concern if mind goes into the more mystical aspect of aligning my zodiac with treatment. I don't know enough to comment on Roy's, but if someone told me I am a "dog" (based on the year of my birth) and another zodiac animal because of the hour of my birth, I would say s/he is bullshitting me. The hour of your birth, in according to Chinese astrology, tells you which of the 5 elements (of their combination) you belong to - again, metal, wood, water, fire and earth (soil).
And not using disposable needles... doubly suspicious.